Mixed messages hinder COVID caution

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/07/2020 (2041 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Over the past couple of weeks, Canada has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases — and most of the new cases have been people under 40.

This has led to much finger-wagging from experts and politicians, with various Canadian premiers addressing the members of that cohort as though they are disobedient children. “Knock it off,” was Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s message to young adults socializing in large groups. “Guys, you have to rein it in,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said.

Experts appear to have two dominant theories as to why COVID-19 cases are on the rise among the younger demographic. The first is pandemic fatigue: at this stage in the pandemic, people are getting tired — and as with a physical activity such as lifting weights, good form tends to start to disappear as people become more fatigued.

Twenty seconds of handwashing becomes 10. Masks stay around chins or are not worn at all. Distancing becomes non-existent at the lake, barbecue, beach, park or patio. Many people are struggling with the mental-health effects of isolation.

The second theory involves what Canada’s deputy chief public health officer, Dr. Howard Njoo, calls the “invincibility factor” of young people who, perhaps, drew what they believed to be a logical conclusion after repeatedly being told the group primarily at risk of developing serious complications from COVID-19 are the old and immunocompromised (the latter of which can also include young adults).

But a third factor has to be a failure of messaging: when people see that bars and restaurants are reopening, it sends a signal that they can safely go to bars and restaurants. When indoor gathering sizes are increased, it sends the message that people can gather. The dissonance between public-health directives and various provincial economic-restart campaigns runs the risk of becoming baffling.

It’s also important to remember that partying isn’t the only thing that puts young adults at risk of contracting COVID-19 in a reopening economy. A particularly wry headline on the Canadian satirical website The Beaverton reads, “Doug Ford tells young people with COVID-19 to stop partying and start waiting tables indoors.”

Indeed, it’s primarily young adults who work in the bars, restaurants and retail stores the world has been in such a hurry to reopen. Young adults were also among those who were shamed for being on CERB. Some young adults were forced to move back in with their parents when they got laid off from their jobs and couldn’t get rent relief.

“Millennial” is not just shorthand for “young”; in fact, the eldest in that demographic are closing in on 40 — the segment of the population that is trying to home-school while also working from home — two ideas that, for the vast majority of working parents, are not compatible.

In addition to being the cohort politicians are telling to “knock it off” because some of them have been flouting pandemic restrictions, the young people in question have also been told to get back to work, and to get out and stimulate the sputtering economy. The volume of mixed messages alone might be enough to make them want to blow off a bit of steam.

There have certainly been instances in which the people gathering in close quarters need to “rein it in”; the public-health requirement for caution, common sense and social distancing has not changed. But it’s worth noting that the scolding tends to come from elected older adults whose intense focus on economic recovery includes deciding the time is right for those bars and restaurants to safely open for business.